"I’d like to get those same attributes out of these Merlins with less harshness though."
It's hard for me to imagine Merlins sounding harsh, but to say again what others have said, they do like tubes. (It's part of the whole point of Merlins, IMO, that they're "tube friendly" & don't need a huge amount of power).
Also, trying to use way lesser (SS) components like Yamaha, NAD, & Onkyo, is kind of a waste of such excellent speakers. I used my TSM-M's with a VTL 2.5 preamp & an ARC VT100 power amp..... You've made a big leap upwards with the speakers (to "high end"), but now your other components have to be of equal quality.....
Good luck!
It's hard for me to imagine Merlins sounding harsh, but to say again what others have said, they do like tubes. (It's part of the whole point of Merlins, IMO, that they're "tube friendly" & don't need a huge amount of power).
Also, trying to use way lesser (SS) components like Yamaha, NAD, & Onkyo, is kind of a waste of such excellent speakers. I used my TSM-M's with a VTL 2.5 preamp & an ARC VT100 power amp..... You've made a big leap upwards with the speakers (to "high end"), but now your other components have to be of equal quality.....
Good luck!